Wizarding Kings: Magnificient and Just: Book One
by Artemis Goldborough
Summary: If two major players of the wizarding world are radically different,how does it change every else? Draco and Harry are either possessed or reincarnated, the reborn souls of the former kings of another world. OOC Harry OOC Draco. AU. Crossover with Narnia.
1. Important First Meetings

Chapter One: Important First Meetings

Number one Privet Drive was the address. The house, middle class and non-descript was nothing much. It was the smallest of the two boys who lived there who was special. This boy had messy black hair and bright green eyes. Expect for the lighting bolt scar on his forehead you would never have known at a glance that there was anything different about him but there was.

If you watched the boy, how he moved and talked, then you might have seen something uncommon. His clothes were ragged, several sizes too big. Yet he carried himself as if he was someone important. He spoke with intelligence from an early age. There was something regal about him. There was something commanding. You knew the moment you looked at his guardians that they were not his parents. Though they dressed far better than him, they were somehow lower, lesser than him.

The boy himself did not know he was different. He could not see it. All he was of aware of in that regard was his dreams. The boy's guardians, the boy's relatives had him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. When he slept he dreamed. He dreamed of centaurs and talking animals. He dreamed of witches and kings and queens. When he awoke he only vaguely remembered his dreams. The longer a day went the less he remembered them. The boy learned quickly not to speak of the dreams at breakfast or at any other time. His relatives, his aunt and uncle grew angry if he spoke of anything that sounded like magic. Most mornings the boy did not even remember dreaming so the dreams were never much of an issue.

The boy's name was Harry Potter. His aunt was Petunia Dursley nee Evans. She was his mother's sister. Petunia was a skinny blond haired woman. Her face reminded one a bit of a horse. Harry's uncle was only such by marriage, a man named Vernon Dursley. He was a big man with a mustache and entirely too many chins. Petunia and Vernon's pride and joy was their son Dudley. This boy Dudley Durlsey took after in his father in weight and his mother in hair.

Dudley all but lived to bully those who were smaller than him. The one exception was Harry. Harry would always stand up to Dudley. Though Dudley would beat Harry to a pulp, Harry did not cry. Harry never cried or screamed. The calmness, the sheer presence Harry exuded bothered Dudley so much that it was long before Dudley stopped his attacks on Harry. A victim that acted more a victor was not much fun.

For the boy named Harry Potter life growing up on Privet Drive in the town of Little Whinging was never easy; but it was not always horrible. It followed a pattern that for the boy was normal. He was woken in the mornings to cook breakfast. In fall, winter, and spring, he went to school. In the summer he spent as many hours as possible outside of the house. He did chores, gardening, house cleaning and as mentioned before, cooking. Though many might find this strange he actually enjoyed the chores sometimes. A fact that bothered the Dursleys a great deal. They were mean and cruel during Harry's early years. As he grew older they grew increasingly indifferent. Harry was almost always calm. When he did anger it scared people, in particular the Dursleys, far more so than they would ever admit. When Harry was angry he was dangerous looking. There was there a gleam to his eyes that said if you pushed him too far you would regret it. Life for the Dursleys and a boy named Harry Potter went on in its steady pattern, the rhythm of which changed only slowly. This pattern would continue until the summer the boy turned eleven.

* * *

><p>In a mansion in an unplottable location another boy grew up. This boy had blond hair and grey eyes. You knew from the first moment you saw him that this boy was important to someone. His clothes were expensive. His hair was brushed and perfectly gelled. His appearance was so well groomed, so spotless, that one thought him more like a doll than a boy. He was the spitting image of his father, a man who carried himself with a great deal of arrogance and self-importance. It was not confidence so much as a desire that others think the man was confident. The man was much the same in private as he was in public. The boy however was not. The boy was loud and self-centered in public. In private he was quiet and self reflective.<p>

The boy like the other one we have spoke of was prone to dreaming. When he dreamed it was very strange. This boy grew up in a world of magic. In his dreams he saw a world that too was magical but so different from everything he knew. When the boy spoke to his father of his dreams they were dismissed. His mother was more open, more willing to listen. She encouraged him to speak of his dreams. It was because of his mother that this boy kept a journal, a record of his dreams as soon as he was old enough to write.

The boy grew up believing his father was the most important person in the world but his mother was the smartest. The boy's parents were wealthy. The older he grew the less they seemed to have time for him. That he was loved was one of the few things the boy never doubted. Everything else was subject to questioning. The boy was cautious without knowing why he was cautious. The boy was inquisitive. He was very eager to learn. He trusted few people and loved even fewer.

This boy was named Draco Malfoy. His parents were a wizard and a witch. His father was Lucius Malfoy. Lucius was a man few dared cross. A man with long blond hair and an arrogant glare. He was a man known for his cold but fearsome furry. He held high political power in the wizarding world. Draco's mother was Narcissa Malfoy nee Black. She was one of the last living direct descendents of the ancient house of Black, a legendary wizarding family. Narcissa was very beautiful with long blond hair a distinctly different shade of blond from her husband and son. She was often busy with parties and matters of high society. The conseunce of her actions were such that anyone who was anybody at all of note wanted to attend Malfoy parties. The parties hosted at the Malfoy's mansion were considered must-see events.

Draco's dreams were of evil witches, of endless snow, and palaces of ice. Draco's dreams were of a heroic lion and the coming of spring. Draco dreamed of war, of sword fighting, of soldiers. The more he wrote and thought of his dreams the more he saw they were of the same place. Yet his dreams remained vague and unclear.

* * *

><p>Just a few weeks before his eleventh birthday Draco received an message by owl. Messenger owls were quite common in the wizarding world. They were the main means of mail. What made this owl unusual and special was that it carried Draco's letter of invitation to Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft. With the letter came a list of school supplies. His parents argured a lot about Draco going to the school. Ultimately as it often happened with arguments Narcissa won.<p>

It was the last day of July when Draco was taken to Diagon Alley for his school supplies. Draco, his mother, and his father went to the bank first a place which was run by goblins. The Malfoys were not one of the oldest families in the wizarding world but they were certainly one of the richest. After the bank Draco's father left him at the door to Madam Malkin's a clothing store. Draco went in. Madam Malkin's was a small store crowded with fabrics. It was the finest shop in England for wizarding robes. Draco was led to the back. He stepped up on a footstool. A shop assistant took his measurements. He was standing there when the black haired boy came in. The boy stepped up on a footstool to be measured. He looked at Draco, his green eyes staring into Draco's grey. Unlike you reader Draco did not know this was Harry Potter. What he did know was that he had never seen this boy in his life. At the same he felt as if he knew him, as if he had always known him.

"Hogwarts? You going to Hogwarts too?" Draco asked. He hoped he was. This other boy was important somehow. Draco didn't understand it but he knew it was so.

"Yes," the other boy said.

Draco dropped all pretence and arrogance. With this boy such things did not matter. "I'm Draco," he said. For once he did not name his family. This was something that for Draco was unusual. The thoughts running through his head were not the usual. He didn't want a friendship with this boy to based only on his family name.

"I'm Harry," the boy said.

"My father brought me here," Draco said, "I think Father's next door looking at books. Mother's down the street a ways looking for a secondary wand. They're very useful for dueling you know?"

"I came here with Hagrid," Harry said, "He's the gamekeeper at Hogwarts."

"Isn't he low class?" Draco said, "A gamekeeper is sort of a servant isn't it?" Draco had been to taught to never associate with those who were lower in station than him.

"I think he is brilliant!" Harry said. From the look of anger on Harry's face Draco knew he had said something wrong.

Madam Malkin went about pinning Harry's robes. Harry looked increasingly upset at Draco.

"Look," Draco said, "I didn't mean to get you mad. It's just why did he bring here? Where are your parents, your mother and father?"

Harry's voice was soft when he said, "My parents are dead." "Oh," Draco said, "I'm sorry. They were our kind though weren't they?"

"If you mean a witch and a wizard, yes." Harry nodded.

This boy, this Harry, he seemed to Draco like a pureblood. He had a noble bearing to him. Draco gave a nod of his own. "Good. The other kind, the muggleborns shouldn't be allowed in the school. They don't know our heritage, our history. Most of them don't even know about Hogwarts until they get their letter. Can you believe that?"

Harry's brows went down. His eyes narrowed. "I did not know about Hogwarts until yesterday. My mother was a muggleborn."

Draco went quiet. He could not think of the rights words to say to salvage the conversation. Silence was his only refuge. He felt if as he should be friends with Harry. He felt as if there was something more than just that. It was obvious though that Harry did not feel the same. Whatever connection it was that Draco felt, it did not go two ways.

"There dear," Madam Malkin said to Harry, "All done." Harry left the shop as swiftly as he could. Draco was left there wondering who Harry was. What was it about that boy that was so important to him? Draco kept wondering throughout the day. His mind kept trying to work it out.

That night back in the mansion in his own bedroom Draco had trouble sleeping because he was thinking of Harry. When Draco finally fell asleep he dreamed more vividly than he ever had before.

_He was imprisoned in a cell. The walls around him were made of ice that was somehow highly reflective. It occurred to Edmund only now that his siblings were right. The White Queen was evil. It was the way the old fairy tales said it was. Witches were evil. Edmund was cold. He felt as if he was freezing to death. It was the queen, the White Witch who put him here. She promised he would be a prince. She lied._

_Edmund stared at his reflection in the ice. He wasn't as clever as he had thought he was. He did not look good. His black hair was a mess. His brown eyes seemed lifeless even to him. His skin was trying to turn blue from the cold. He had bruises from where Ginnarbrik had hit him. Ginnarbrik the dwarf who served the white witch had a name that seemed well deserved. His fists had felt like bricks when they hit Edmund's face._

_Edmund traced the shapes of the bruises on his face. When his touched his cheeks, the bruised skin hurt. It was better than the cold. His body was trying to go numb. The pain assured him that he was still alive. He was only ten years old. He didn't want to die here. He wanted to make up with his siblings. He did not know if he was ready to apologize but he wanted to have the chance to. He shuddered. He was cold, so cold…_

Draco Malfoy woke up. His arms went around his chest. He felt the cold from his dream. He had never felt anything in his dreams before. He never remembered his dreams in such detail before either. It was as if he had been inside Edmund's head. He had seen and heard and felt what Edmund did. He could still remember the pain of the bruises and the muscles aches from the beatings. Draco had never been hit. He had never been badly injured. The closest he had ever come to the kind of pain Edmund felt was a bout of the flu.

It was the middle of the night. Draco said, "Light!" The light came on. The room was spelled so that the light would come at his command. Draco looked about his large bedroom. The contrast between his room and the icy prison cell was great. Where the cell had been cold in color and temperature, Draco's room was warm. The mixture of green cloth, gold trim and dark wood was familiar. It was reassuring. The dream changed Draco a little bit. For the first time in his life he was grateful for the comfort and safety of his bedroom.

Draco closed his eyes again. Again he dreamed.

_He was on a ship. It was a fine Narnian sailing ship. It was nighttime. He stared at the stars. The constellation were not the same as the one over the Earth. Narnia was truly a another world. It was a wonderful world. He felt more at home here than he ever did back on Earth. So why at quiet moments like this, did he feel so lonely? The answer to that was simple. King Edmund of Narnia missed his older brother. Peter who was now fifteen was too old to return to Narnia. It did not seem fair but who was he to question the will of the great lion._

Draco woke with a jolt. Edmund was king? There were other worlds, other planets? The Edmund of this dream seemed older. He seemed more mature. It occurred to Draco for the first time that the dreams might be of real places. They might be of things that happened in the past or were yet to be. The eleven year old fell asleep. This time the sleep was dreamless.

The dreams would continue night after night for an entire month until the day Draco boarded the train for Hogwarts. Each dream was as detailed as the one before. They showed both minor and important moments in the life of Edmund Pevensie. The dreams showed a few short instances of Edmund's life in Narnia. It only heightened the sense of mystery. Who was Edmund Pevensie? Where and what was Narnia? Some of the dreams were more nightmare than dream. These made Draco afraid to sleep. Other dreams were thrilling in a good way. None of the dreams were like reading adventure stories. None of them were like his dreams used to be ether. When Draco dreamed of Narnia it was as if he did more than dream; he lived it.

On the day Draco was to go to Hogwarts his parents took him to King's Cross Station. They arrived early. Draco and his parents were among the first to go through the barrier to platform nine and three quarters.

The barrier is a brick wall. For more than an hour on the first of September of every year wizards and witches walk straight through the wall. There is a portal there that leads them to their destination. Most muggles, non magical folk do not notice what goes on here. The barrier wall has a powerful notice-me-not spell placed upon. All that the people who work at the muggle train station know is that every year people show up with exotic pets. Owls, cats, rats and toads are all carried by hand and by cage by these strange people. These people tend to look extremely uncomfortable in their clothing. For anyone whose worked at the station for more than a few years this does not even raise a brow. For those who are new to working at the station the questions abound.

The newer muggle employees at the train station were not the only ones filled with curiosity. Draco Malfoy looked about the station in great interest. He seldom saw muggle places. It was not this that fascinated him though. It was the thought that Edmund, the boy in his dreams might a muggle. Edmund hated spell casting and anything to do with witches. When Draco thought of the White Witch and what little he had seen of her in his dreams, he did not blame Edmund for his hatred.

Draco glanced about the station. He stood still for long so determinedly that his father had to drag him a little to get him to move. Draco remembered from of his most recent dreams that Edmund had turned eleven, twelve, and thirteen and many other years, twice. Draco did not how this was so but he knew with magic that very few things were impossible. Assuming the dreams were real he still didn't know if they were of the past or the future. Edmund might very young. He might be very old. Draco looked about the station hoping the unreasonable hope that Edmund was here.

There was other face that Draco hoped to see even more than Edmund's. It was that of Peter, Edmund's brother. Draco had seen Peter in his dreams of Edmund a mere handful of times. Those times were enough Draco felt a strong link to Peter. It was almost as if Peter were his brother as much as he was Edmund's. Peter was High King of Narnia. He was the one person Edmund would willingly obey.

So lost in thought was Draco that he did not care that his father was pulling him forward. He went through the barrier to platform nine and three quarters almost unaware that he was doing so.

* * *

><p>Across the station a heavy set man was pushing a cart loaded with a trunk and a snowy white owl. The owl was Hedwig a gift from Hagrid; she was Harry's first real gift. The man was none other than Harry Potter's uncle Vernon Dursley. It seemed as if Vernon was being nice. As you have probably guessed reader, there was not much about Vernon Dursley that was nice or kind, not when it came to his nephew Harry Potter. Vernon like so many people feared that which he could not understand. The subject that is magic fell strictly in that category. There is an old saying that what we fear we often hate and Vernon Dursley was no exception to this.<p>

Vernon stopped the cart facing platforms nine and ten. He smiled an evil grin at Harry. "I see nine and ten boy," he said, "I do not see your platform. They must not have not have built it yet." Vernon Durlesy's grin widened; it was no less wicked.

"Do not worry Uncle," Harry said with conviction, "It exists. I know it does. I will find it."

"Have a good term," Vernon said in a tone that meant the exact opposite. He walked away barely holding back a laugh.

Harry was good at understanding people. He was good at getting to them to do what he wanted to. It was persuasion. It was a natural talent for manipulation. Like so many things that came easy to him he didn't understand where it came from. In the case of his uncle it didn't always work. Out of a fear that the talent would when he needed most he seldom used on Vernon. This morning he had. This morning the manipulation had been most important for Harry did not want to be late. As a result Harry was standing alone looking for the platform at five minutes after ten.

Harry knew that he had nearly an hour before the train took off. Before he could get on it, he had to find it. In Diagon Alley the wizards had moved and acted in ways that normal people did not. They spoke of things were most unusual. All he had to do was watch and listen for anything that was strange. The chances were high that he would find a wizarding family this way. He could then follow them to the platform. This was logical thinking and it should have worked. It was fifteen minutes before he heard anything out of the norm. "…but Gran," a boy's voice said, "I don't want to keep Trevor on my arm with a sticking spell. I don't like this."

"You'll loose him if you don't," an old woman's voice said, "I showed you the removal spell. If you cannot do such a simple spell then get a prefect or teacher to do it when you get to Hogwarts."

Harry searched for the source of the voices. It was several second before he spotted them. The boy was blond haired. He was short and fat. His face was round. The woman was old as Harry had guessed. Her clothing was an extremely old fashioned muggle style. The hat was not muggle, not something usually seen in the non-magical world at all. There was a stuffed vulture on top of it. It was gathering a lot of attention. The woman herself was attracting a lot of fearful and respectful glances. The woman's face appeared to be in a constant scowl. She had the air of a prim and proper lady about her. She was tall. She was formidable.

Harry told himself he was not nervous. Nevertheless he did not approach the old woman. He followed her and her grandson from a discreet distance. The short blond boy pulled a cart with a trunk. A toad was staying on his left no matter how he moved it. The old woman and the boy walked to the wall between platforms nine and ten.

The boy stopped. "I don't want to crash Gran. I don't!" he said nervously.

"Don't be ridiculous child," the old woman said. She walked straight through the wall. Her grandson followed trembling.

Harry pulled forward his own cart. He walked up to the empty space where the woman and the boy had been. If he hadn't seen this he wouldn't have believed it. There was so much he didn't know about magic. He took a deep breath. He closed his eyes. A few minutes passed as he tried to work up his courage.

"Are you just going to stand there?" a girl's voice said in a bossy tone.

Harry's eyes snapped open. Standing next to him was a girl with bushy brown hair. She had a cart with a trunk behind her.

"I read about it in Hogwarts, a History," the girl said, "You simply walk through. It can't be dangerous. Thousands of kids before us have done it." The girl sounded to Harry like she thought she knew everything. Her front teeth were rather large.

"Just because someone wrote it in a book does not make it so," Harry said. Feeling irritated and more than a little annoyed he walked quickly through the wall just to get away from the girl. He came out the other side of the wall. The sight of a red steam engine train greeted him. There were multiple families standing around the platform. A sign over head said Hogwarts' Express. According to the clock attached to the sign it was close to ten thirty.

Harry moved forward a bit then turned back around. Where the barrier wall had been there was an wrought iron archway. The archway had above it the words Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Harry had made it. The bossy bushy haired girl came through followed by a man, a woman and a little girl who Harry assumed were the bossy girl's parents and kid sister. There was a strong resemblance. The girl's family was gawking in amazement. The girl herself looked impatient.

Harry walked toward the train. He could see looking up that many of the compartments at the front were filling up. No one was heading to the back of the train. Harry walked there. The crowd near the front was a little too intense for his liking. The smoke in the air was strong. Cats moved back and forth wrapping themselves against people's legs. There was a lot of chatter on the platform.

Harry passed by the round faced boy who was talking to his grandmother. "Gran please take off the sticking spell. Please!" the boy shouted in a desperate tone.

The old woman sighed. "Oh Neville, what am I going to do with you?" She pulled out her wand. Harry didn't hear the spell she cast. Harry did see the toad jump off the boy's arm. It dived right at Harry. Without meaning to Harry caught the toad.

"W-wow!" the round face boy stuttered out of excitement. "That was amazing!"

"It was nothing," Harry said. He shrugged. "It was a complete accident. You ought to keep it in a cage."

"A cage!" the boy said, "Gran why didn't we think of that?"

Harry moved past the boy and his grandmother, heading for the nearest stairs to get on the train.

* * *

><p>In a compartment in the middle of the train Draco Malfoy sat boredly staring at the other two boys in the compartment. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle were not smart kids. They had a dog-like obedience. They were willing to obey anything he said. Draco knew these idiots only because his parents were friends with theirs. He had played with these boys a lot as he grew up. Both were tall. Vincent Crabbe was fat with a wide neck. His arms were built like a gorilla. Gregory Goyle had enormous broad shoulders and large feet. In front of other people, Draco was to address these boys by their surnames, Goyle and Crabbe. It would reinforce the false notion that they were bodyguards to Draco. It would make him seem more important. This was Lucius' idea not Draco's. All three boys knew they were going to be sorted into Slytherin the house of the snakes. It was where their parents were when they were in school.<p>

Draco looked out the window at the platform. His parents were out there talking to Crabbe and Goyle's parents. He was sure if it was about anything important that they were talking in code. Mr. and Mrs. Crabbe and Mr. and Mrs. Goyle were of average intelligence. How they have produced such stupid sons? Draco shook his head.

Outside the compartment doorway, various kids were moving about. An older boy about fifteen or sixteen kept coming up and down the hall. He was carrying a trunk. He looked tough. He had large crooked teeth and shifty eyes. He was, Draco noticed, wearing the school uniform robes with a Slytherin house crest on them. Draco felt intimidated by this older boy until he remembered that Edmund had faced much worse.

"Looking for a place to sit?" Draco called out. "You can sit here!"

The older boy came charging in to the compartment. "Who are you?" he demanded more than asked. His voice was not far removed from a growl.

Draco couldn't think for a moment, he was so startled. The older boy glared down at him. "I," the older boy said, "am Marcus Flint. I'm the chaser and the new captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team. You three are just firsties aren't you? You don't know what house you'll be in. For all I know you could wind up Gryffindor!"

"Never!" Draco said. Everything his father had told him had informed him that Gryffindor was a house of foolish people, the sort who charged into things without thinking.

There were four houses at Hogwarts, four major sets of dormitories and common rooms. The students were divided up into houses based on dominant personality traits. Slytherin was the house of the cunning and ambitious. Gryffindor was the house of the brave and chivalrous. Hufflepuff was the house of the loyal and hardworking. Ravenclaw was the house of the knowledgeable and witty.

"My father was Slytherin!" Draco yelled.

"Doesn't mean a thing," Flint mumbled.

"I am Draco Malfoy!" Draco shouted with more confidence than he felt. "My father has a seat on the bored of governors overseeing Hogwarts!"

Flint laughed. "I think like you firstie. You've got spirit. Let's just hope that spirit doesn't land you in Gryffindor cause then we will be enemies." Flint grabbed his trunk. He swung it overhead to the luggage rack. He then sat down in the seat beneath his luggage. "I'm only here because my friends are acting a little too weird. I would rather not deal with them right now or at all during the trip Hogwarts. If you're smart you won't pester me." Flint closed his eyes and began to snore.

A few minutes passed, then from the front of the train there was a loud whistle. Crabbe and Goyle rushed to the window. Goyle stuck his head out to say good-bye to his mum. Both Crabbe and Goyle shouted their farewells to their parents. This inspired yet another headshake from Draco; it was getting to be a habit. He had already said good-bye to his parents earlier. He had no need to stick his head out the window and look like an idiot. More minutes passed, then the voices from the platform started to grow more and more distant as the train moved, slowly picking up speed as it pulled out of the station.

* * *

><p>In a compartment near the end of train, Harry Potter sat down by the window. In the seat across from Harry, the round faced boy did the same. He was holding tight to his toad. "I'm Neville Longbottom," the boy said in a voice so low Harry could hardly hear him.<p>

"I'm Harry Potter," Harry said.

Neville's face went pale. "A-are y-you really? You're not kidding me?" he stuttered, "Do you have the scar?"

Harry smiled. "Yes, I'm him." Harry pushed up his bangs revealing the lighting bolt shaped scar. "My aunt and uncle told me I got it in a car crash."

"They didn't!" Neville gasped. "Y- you- know-who…" Neville's voice trailed off weakly.

Harry's face went grim. "Yes, I know. Voldemort killed my parents. He's the one who gave me this scar. I only found out about all this a month ago."

"You said his name," Neville said. His eyes went so wide they looked ready to pop out of his head. He looked ready to faint.

"Breathe Neville," Harry said, "Breathe! It is only a name. Refusing to speak a name is dumb. It gives the enemy a power over you."

Neville looked at Harry in awe. "You're brave. You'll probably be in Gryffindor."

"Griff- what?" Harry asked.

At this moment, another boy came into the compartment. He had bright red hair. He had freckles. There was a dark smudge of dirt on his nose. "Is anyone sitting there?" he asked pointing at the empty beside Neville. "Everywhere else is full." Neville shook his head and the red haired boy sat down. "I'm Ron Weasley. You're both first years too?"

"Yes," Harry said as Neville nodded.

Two more red haired boys appeared at the compartment door. These two were identical to each other. They were twins. They looked a few years older than Ron.

"Hey Ron," one twin said,

"We're headed to the middle of the train," the other twin said, "Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula there."

"Oh great," Ron mumbled.

One of the twins starred at Harry's forehead at the spot where his lighting bolt scar was. Harry put a hand to his forehead. When he had moved his bangs earlier, he had failed to cover back up his scar.

"Blimey!" the twin said, "Are you Harry Potter?"

"He is! Isn't he?" the other twin said.

"Do you remember seeing who-know-who's face?" the first twin said.

"It's Voldemort," Harry said, "If you must talk about him at least say his name. And no, I don't remember him. I was just a baby at the time."

The twins stared at Harry like he was something strange. After a few moments, the first one spoke up again. "I'm Fred Weasley." He pointed at his twin. "That's my brother George. We'll just be leaving you now." The twins walked down the hall and out of sight.

When they were gone, Ron stared at Harry. "Are you really him?"

"Yes," Harry snapped. If people kept acting this way then Harry knew that this was going to get old fast. Harry was new to the wizarding world. A month before he had not known anything about it. Finding out he was famous because of something that happened when he fifteen months was a great shock.

Throughout the wizarding world, the name of Harry Potter was revered by some and reviled by others. This was all because of an event that happened one Halloween night when Harry was so young he could not even remember it. Voldemort an evil wizard as dark as you could get had slain Harry's parents. He tried to kill Harry but something else happened. No one was sure what, but the infant Harry lived through something that was believed to impossible to live through: the killing curse. It was what gave Harry his scar. No one what happened to Voldemort; Harry was believed to somehow have defeated him.

Harry wasn't sure how much he believed that story. He was only a baby at the time yet because of that night, he was famous across the wizarding world. In the muggle world where he grew up, he was normal, ordinary, forgettable. All this fame was too new to him. This fame, Harry decided, was not a good thing.

"Sorry," Ron said, "I heard you were sent to live with muggles. So you were raised by muggles weren't you? What's that like?"

"What's it like to grow up with two older brothers?" Harry asked.

"Five," Ron said gloomily. "There's five of them. Three of them are going to Hogwarts. You met the twins. They're third years. Somewhere on this train, there's Percy. He is in his fifth year. He's a prefect. The older two graduated already. Bill, the oldest is a curse breaker in Egypt. Charlie works with dragons in Romania."

"Wow!" Neville said, "That's a lot of brothers."

"Yeah," Ron said, "It means I have a lot to live up to. I'm the youngest of six boys. The only kid younger than me is my sister. Bill was head boy when he was at Hogwarts. Charlie was captain of the quidditch team. Percy is a prefect. Fred and George have a notorious reputation for pranks; they mess around a lot and still get good marks. Everyone expects me to be as good as my brothers but they've already done everything so it's no big deal to them if I do."

Ron reached inside his jacket. "When have you have five older brothers you never get anything new. I've got Bill's old robes and Charlie's old wand." Ron pulled out of his jacket a fat gray rat. "This is Scabbers, Percy's old rat."

"At least you've got brothers," Harry said, "I don't have any. I never will."

"Me neither," Neville said.

Everyone in the compartment went quiet for a while. The view outside the window grew increasingly wild as farmlands and towns gave way to forests and grassy plains.

Neville's grip on his toad lessened until it became easy for the toad to escape his fingers. The toad jumped toward the hall. "Trevor!" Neville cried out miserably. He ran after it.

"I don't know why he bothers," Ron said, "If I had a toad I'd want to lose it as fast as possible. Mind you, I got Scabbers so I can't really talk. " Ron continued to sit relaxed in his seat. He held Scabbers in his hands. The rat was fast asleep.

"I'm going to help him," Harry said, "It's the right thing to do."

"Whatever." Ron shrugged.

Harry rose up and left Ron in the compartment.

* * *

><p>In a certain compartment near the middle of the train, Draco was sitting down opening up the chocolate frog boxes he had just bought. A lady with a trolley full of sweets was working her way down the train. Draco had bought a bunch of the chocolate frogs. He was more interested in the cards that came with the chocolates then the chocolates themselves. As Draco opened the boxes, he handed most of the chocolates to Crabbe and Goyle who were more than happy to devour them.<p>

The chocolate frog cards were highly collectable. Draco had a large collection back at the mansion. Certain cards were extremely rare. They were what he was hoping to get. Unfortunately, he kept getting cards of Albus Dumbledore. Three had the exact same image. It was Dumbledore with his half-moon shaped glasses and his long white beard. The cards read:

_**ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**_

_**CURENTLY HEADMASTER AT HOGWARTS**_

_**Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner Nickolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.**_

In Draco's mind Dumbledore was great alright, a great idiot. Draco's father Lucius did not hold a high opinion of Dumbledore so Draco didn't either. The fact that Dumbledore was the headmaster at Hogwarts was one of the big reasons that Lucius had been against Draco going to the school.

Marcus Flint went on snoring. Crabbe and Goyle continued to go through the sweets Draco bought; and Draco went on sorting through the cards.

Draco was startled by the sound of footsteps. He looked up. In the doorway was that boy Harry. Behind him were two tall identical red headed boys. They were repeatedly mock bowing. "All hail Harry Potter! The great hero of the world!" the twins shouted.

"Hush you!" Harry yelled at the twins. The twins moved down the train laughing.

Was the boy Harry that Draco met really the _Harry Potter? Draco was stunned. He stared at Harry's head. Harry's bangs were pushed to the side showing the_ legendary scar._ He was Harry Potter!_

_"_Have you seen a toad?" Harry asked, "Neville Longbottom is missing his."

Draco barley heard a word Harry said. His thoughts were on something else. There was something more to the black haired boy than just being Harry Potter. His body language even the way he moved now out of annoyance seemed awfully familiar. It hit Draco like a bolt of lightning.

The voice, the face were different, but there was no doubt. Harry spoke and moved like Peter. For a moment Draco didn't see Harry. Instead, where Harry was standing he could see a phantom image of the taller older Peter as he was at twenty-seven. His dark blond hair. His well muscled build the product of years of fighting and sword training. Peter's blue eyes stared at Draco. Then it was Harry again. Draco knew then the truth. Harry was Peter Pevensie. Harry was High King Peter the Magnificent, Lord of Cair Paravel and Emperor of the Lone Isles. Draco didn't know how this was so but it was.

Draco stood up. Still staring at Harry, Draco dropped to his knees. He sat looking up from the floor. He suddenly clutched at his head as memories began to flood his mind.

No else there understood what was going on. Harry looked at Draco in bewilderment. Crabbe were Goyle as Draco thought, not at all very complicated. They jumped instantly _to _the conclusion that Harry had done something to Draco.

"What did you do?" Goyle asked.

"You'll pay for hurting him!" Crabbe shouted. Both Crabbe and Goyle pushed Harry out of the compartment. They pushed and pulled at Harry and started to beat him up. They dragged him down the hall of the train car. The noise they made woke up Marcus Flint.

"Can't anybody get any sleep around here?" Flint complained. He stretched. He stood up. He left the compartment leaving Draco all alone on the floor in there.

Draco's mind was filled with every memory Edmund had of his days in Narnia. It was somewhere between fifteen and sixteen years of memories. It was the memories of a man who lived to be twenty-four and then somehow became ten again. A man in a child's body who would return to Narnia twice. He had fought in wars, the battles against the White Witch, the Telmarines and others. Draco didn't remember Edmund; Draco was Edmund.

Edmund rose to his feet disoriented. The dream-like memories of a boy named Draco were in his head. His own memories were fragmented. Everything that was of Narnia was clear. His memories of Earth were not. They were scattered and vague. The last thing he remembered was boarding a train, one which was quite different from this one. At the time he was physically nineteen. This was not so anymore.

Edmund gazed at the window. The glass was faintly reflective, enough that he could see his face. It was the face of Draco. "But I am not Draco!" he said. He made a fist. His hand came within an inch of the glass. He dropped his hand to his side. He looked wildly around the train compartment. His mind went into full panic. There were witches on this train. There were wizards. His faint Draco memories told him that Draco's friends Crabbe and Goyle would be coming back here at any moment. Edmund wanted to be left alone. He did not want to deal with anyone. He closed the door. He looked franticly about the compartment for a way to barricade the door. His memories of Draco told him that Marcus Flint's trunk might have something that would work. Edmund opened Flint's trunk. There was a broom. It was not a normal broom. A corner of his mind said racing broom, expensive racing broom. Edmund pushed the thought aside. This object, this broom, it might work.

Edmund lifted the broom. He swung it over toward the door. He placed it horizontally against the door, wedging it in the doorway. He arranged so that the only way the door was opening was if he took down the broom. As far as Edmund knew, the door was now sufficiently barricaded.


	2. Second Does Not Mean Least

Chapter Two: Second Does Not Mean Least

At the very front of the train known as the Hogwarts Express in the first car was the two compartments reserved for the prefects. It was the prefects who were charged with dealing the problems on the train. There were a mere two adults, the conductor and the trolley lady. That is unless you counted some of the seventh year students. In the wizarding world you were considered legally grown at seventeen.

While two compartments were reserved for the prefects, they could not contain them all. In theory all the precfects except the head boy, the head girl and the fifth years were supposed to scattered throughout the train. In practice most arrived early; the prefects usually took over the entire first car of the train. From fifth year and up a girl and boy from every house was chosen as prefect. This meant six prefects for every house. The grand total of prefects for the entire school was twenty-six.

The oldest Weasley on the train was a prefect. He was tall and thin. He wore horn-rimmed when he need to read something. Like of the rest of the members of his family he had red hair and freckles. An observant reader will know that his first name was Percy. He was a fifth year student. This was his first year as prefect. Percy was dressed in school robes. The badge with the letter P for prefect was pinned to his robes. Percy was exceptionally proud of that badge.

Percy carried himself upright and stiff. He believed in authority. He believed in rules above all else. His younger brothers, the twins Fred and George often made fun of him for this.

Percy's glasses were perched on his nose. He had the prefect's handbook out. It was a volume short in height but very thick in width. He was sitting in one of the official prefect compartments. It made no sense to him that prefects were breaking rules. He kept searching through the book, looking to see if there was any loopholes or rules he didn't know about. There wasn't. He had read the book cover to cover twice this summer. Percy got so mad at the rule breaking but complaining did no good.

The prefects were for most part cheerful and relaxed. The only people who came to prefects for help on the trains were usually first and second year students. Everyone else could generally solve their own problems.

A short heavy boy, a first year came into the compartment. "I-I'm Neville Longbottom," he said, "A girl named Hermione told me I could get help from the prefects. Please would someone help me find my toad? His name is Trevor." The boy looked ready to cry.

Most of the prefects laughed. Percy felt outraged by their immature behaiover. They were failing in the responsibilities they were charged with! How dare they? Percy stood up. "I'll help you," he said.

Neville's face instantly brightened. Percy tucked his book away in his trunk. He placed his glasses in a pocket in his robes. Percy then followed Neville down the train. Percy knew a simple called Acio. He pulled out his wand. "Acio Trevor the toad!" Percy called out. It wouldn't work if the toad was too far away. He kept calling out the spell as he walked down through the train cars.

When they got to the middle of the train, Percy and Neville had to stop. There was a fight ahead of them. A small black-haired boy with glasses was holding his own against two boys much bigger than him. "I may not be to hurt Dudley without risking greater problems," the boy said, "but the same is not true for you two. If you think you are going to beat me up you are sadly mistaken."

Before Percy could get a chance to break the fight up it was over. The two bigger boys ran down the train away from the smaller one.

"Wow, Harry how did you do that?" Neville asked.

"I don't know," Harry said, "I've never fought anyone."

"You could have fooled me," Percy said sarcastically, "Fighting is against the school rules. Do you want points docked for your house before you're even at Hogwarts?"

"You can't do that. At least I don't think you can," Neville said, "He hasn't been sorted yet. I bet you he ends up in Gryffindor though. Knowing my luck I'll probably wind up in Hufflepuff."

"Gryffindor? What's that?" Harry asked, "Are you related to Ron. You resemble him."

Percy groaned. For Percy Weasley this was a bad day. One that was only getting worse. It had started this morning when his brothers the twins charmed his badge to say 'P for Perfect.' Looking at down his badge he could see it was doing it again. The badge was flashing back and forth between the words 'For', 'perfect', and the 'letter P.' Percy stifled another groan. Looking at Neville Percy remembered to say "Acio Trevor the toad!" This time the toad came flying to his hand.

"Perfect!" Percy said, fully aware of the irony.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Neville said as he took the toad from Percy.

"This word Gryffindor what is it?" Harry asked, "I've heard mention of it twice."

Percy stood there for the next minute explaining the house system. When this was done he went back up the train alone. A sound of shouts coming from ahead of him soon had him running. The two boys that the smaller boy Harry had been fighting, were standing in front of a closed compartment door. They were yelling wordless shouts that made Percy think uncomfortably of battle cries. The two boys were beating their fists on the door.

"Stand aside," Percy said. The boys moved back. Percy tried the door handle. It moved but the door would not open. Percy tapped his wand against the handle. "Alohamora!" The door still didn't budge.

From other side of the door a boy's voice said in a calm serious manner, "You can try all you want. You are not coming in here witches!"

"Don't be insulting!" Percy said.

Kids from other compartments started to come out into the hall. A crowd gathered. Percy knew a bunch of spell for unlocking or unsticking doors. He knew them from dealing his prankster brothers Fred and George. Percy cast spell after spell. None of them worked on the door. He stepped back frustrated.

As you probably already know the two boys were Crabbe and Goyle. Seeing that the prefect they went back to banging on the door.

"You traitor Draco," Goyle said in a dull manner.

"You dirty rotten perverted scoundrel," Crabbe said in an equally dull way. This resulted in a lot laughter from the crowd, more than half of whom was convinced that the dull witted first year had no idea what he was saying. In this they were actually right. Crabbe was just repeating something he heard his father say.

8

One car down in a crowded car filled with Hufflepuffs was a boy named Cedric Diggoery. He was handsome with dark brown hair. He was tall. He was athletic. He was a third year student much as the Weasley twins were. In other regards he was entirely different from them. Cedric was one of the most poplar students in his year, liked by students throughout the four houses.

The compartment was crowed because there more than double the amount of student that there were supposed to in there. The students, mostly third years, were joking and laughing. Cedric was one of the first people in the compartment, one of the few who actually had a trunk in there. Cedric was hardworking and loyal. He was kind hearted and possessed very natural but under developed leadership skills. If he had one flaw it was that he wanted to be liked. He wanted to please people too much. This was why he didn't order the crowd out. At his word most would have willingly left.

The compartment was so crowded that Cedric was trapped in his seat. The only non-third years in the compartment were two unsorted eleven year old girls. One had black hair. Her name was Leanne Spinks. The other had curly brown hair. Her name was Lavender Brown. Both girls were attempting to flirt with Cedric. The fourteen year old Cedric was both amused and flattered. In the seat next to him, his best friend Joe Summers was growing increasingly annoyed.

"I'd be a lot happier if you'd just leave," Joe said looking at Lavender. Joe Summers was thirteen. Joe and Lavender were first cousins. If you looked them for a few minutes you could sort of see a resemblance. The most ovibius thing in common about their apearxces was the curly brown which for Joe was a few shades dark and considerably shorter.

"Ceddy doesn't seem to mind," Lavender said. She giggled.

"Ceddy?" Cedric muttered. That was it. He'd had enough. Cedric was tolerant and paishunt but this was too much. "Out!" he yelled, "Everyone who doesn't belong in here get out!"

"Finally," Joe said.

Most of the kids left. Only the four boys who belonged in there and Lavender remained. Lavender pouted. "You can't me, Ceddy," she said.

"I do," Cedric said, "Don't call me Ceddy!" He pointed at the door.

Lavender walked out the door. She turned head back. She tilted her head in a smug way. "Just for that Ceddy dear, I'll make sure I don't get in Hufflepuff!" With that she was gone.

"Hufflepuff will be better off without her," Joe said. The other three boys nodded in agreement. The compartment was shut and in very quick order the four boys in the compartment changed into their school uniforms. The uniforms consisted of a white under-robe, a yellow and black tie, and black robes with the Hufflepuff house crest. The crest had a badger on it, the symbol of the house. All four boys were in Hufflepuff.

The two other boys besides Cedric and Joe, were Hugo Macavoy and Tristan Prewit. Hugo had reddish brown hair that was shoulder length.. He was otherwise so average looking that many forgot what his face looked like. He was not a standout personality. His grades were so pathetic that he was repeating third year. He was not dumb. He was lazy. He seemed to want to fade in the background, to be forgotten.

The same could not be said of Hugo's siblings. Hugo Macovoy was the oldest in a set of fraternal triplets. His sister Hedi Macovoy was chaser on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. Cedric being the Hufflepuff seeker since last year was friends with her. Hugo's brother Harold Macovoy was a Ravenclaw who made the top grades in his year.

"It's humiliating!" Hugo complained, "My brother and sister younger than me by minutes are going into the fourth year! But I'm still stuck in third!" Cedric didn't know Hugo that well. He wasn't sure what he thought of him yet. He knew that his friend and fellow third year Tristan was friends with Hugo. Hugo and Tristan grew up in the same village.

"There, there," Tristan Prewit said in a semi-condensing tone. He patted Hugo on the shoulder. Hugo swatted his hand away. Tristian had dark red hair so short he was nearly bald. Tristin was a member of the Prewit clan, a distant cousin of the Wealesy brothers on their mother's side. The Prewetts were a very old wizarding family but there were no more pureblood Prewetts males. Tristan was the grandson of a squib.

Squibs are believed to be non-magical people. Non-magical people who are born to wizarding families. In truth they sometimes do have magic. It is magic that is so weak that it impossible to use wands or cast spells. It is residual magic, the product of growing up surrounded by magical energy. Squib are often misfits and outcasts, the shame, the embarrassment of their families.

In the wizarding world there are people who hold purity of blood in high esteem. To some wizards if you cannot trace say that your anseters were wizarding folk up to at least four generations back then you are considered worthless. Muggleborns are sometimes insultingly called mudbloods. It is a sad fact, but forms of racism exist in almost every society. If it isn't racism then its religious prejudice. If it's not that then it's something else. People have many varying viewpoints. Not all agree to disagree. Human beings are always finding ways to create division and strife. For all that the wizarding world pretended to be different from muggles, they were, they are, still human.

Cedric Diggory was a pureblood from a wealthy family. He was from one of those families that not did not care much about blood purity. The more obsessed purebloods called such people blood traitors.

As soon as all four Hufflepuff boys had finished changing clothes, Cedric left the compartment. He went up the train to the next car. There was a crowd there worse than the crowd that had been in Cedric's compartment five minutes before. Dozens of people were there. Someone was banging against something, the sound was noticeable even over the chatter.

A taller older boy shoved Cedric aside and went past him. It was Marcus Flint. Cedric knew him from playing Quidditcth against him the last year. Flint was on the Slytherin Quiditch team. Flint was big and strong. He pushed aside many people as he worked his way through the hall. People hushed up as he went by them. "What is going on here?" Flint yelled in a booming voice, "Hey, that's my compartment! My stuff is in there!"

Most of the crowd scattered going off in different directions up and down the trains. The few that remained included a prefect with flame red hair and his brothers, a set of identical twins, Fred and George Weasley. Cedric knew of the twins for the same reason he knew Flint. Fred and George were the beaters on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Percy, Cedric knew only because Percy was loud, his voice carried a long ways. In Cedric's opinion, Percy was too outspoken for his own good. It was a wonder to Cedric that Percy never got into fights. He was too polite even when mad. He was always too obsessed with manners and proper protocol.

As the crowd cleared away, Cedric saw where the banging noises were coming from. A compartment was closed. It appeared to be locked. Two boys about the sized of second year students, were banging on the door. The heavier of the two had bleeding knuckles.

No one ever accused Crabbe and Goyle of intelligence. The only thing the boys had going for them was persistence. In this case it did not work.

On the other side of the door Draco who thought he was Edmund stood stubbornly rushing to open the door. Whether he was Edmund or not was not the most important issue. He was not in his right mind. "I refuse to take the broom from the door! I refuse to unblock the door!" he said.

Back in the hall, Flint's face went as red a tomato. His brows went down. "My broom!" he yelled.

The Weasley twins looked at each other. They grinned. "Brother oh mine," one said, "Correct if I'm wrong but doesn't Marcus Flint have a racing room?"

"I think you're right, dear Fred," the other said, "Isn't it a Nimbus Ninety-nine?" "Yes," Fred said, "A Nimbus Ninety-Nine, one of last year's top model racing brooms."

"It's expensive," George said.

"Very," said Fred, "I wonder if it snaps, will he be able to get a new one?"

"Or," suggested George, "will he have to quit the team?"

Fred waved his arms about. "I can just picture him on one of the school's cleansweeps."

"The cleansweeps?" George asked, "Those brooms are older than you and me. The shoddy broom might just give up in mid-air!"

"Yes," Fred said, "It would give the Gryffindor team a great advantage!"

"Shut up!" Flint yelled at the twins.

"Yes, please be quiet," Percy said, "You're not helping matters any."

"Who's behind that door?" Cedric asked.

Percy sighed. "He says his name is Edmund."

"I am ," the boy behind the door said. He paused. It occurred to the paranoid and bewildered boy that he should not say his name. Was he Draco? Was he Edmund? He wasn't sure. The memories of both were swirling around in his head. He was growing increasingly delirious. "I am not telling you who I am. My name is my business and mine alone!"

In the hall, Flint said, "I can't remember his last name. "I know it's famous. I know he told me his name is Draco."

"It is," Crabbe said. He stopped beating his fists against the door. He rubbed his bleeding knuckles. "It hurts."

"That traitor in there is Draco Malfoy," Goyle said, "I'm no genius but I get what he did. He insulted us! Friends don't do that. He called me a girl!"

"He called you a witch, not a girl," Percy said.

Goyle shrugged. "Same thing."

To Cedric Diggory this whole situation seemed surreal. He couldn't help it. He burst out in laughter.

"We could get our brooms," Fred said, "We could fly out of the train and crash back in through that compartment." His twin nodded with great enthusiasm. Fred and George were grinning so wide it didn't look like they could grin any wider.

Percy put a hand over his eyes. "No," he said, "Just no. That's suicidal even for you. Don't you dare do it!"

This made Cedric laugh even harder. He could tell or that thought he could, that the twins were teasing Percy. Poor Percy was too tightly wound. He believed them. Cedric laughed so hard his sides hurt.

"You shut up Puff!" Flint growled more than said, "If you don't, I'll make you!" Flint pushed Crabbe and Goyle away from the door. He slapped a hand against the door twice. "Hey, you in there! I'm talking to you firstie! If you don't open this door right now you'll regret it. When you do come later, and you have to come out some time, I'll beat you into next week! Worse, I'll hex you there!"

From behind the door, the boy said, "I have fought worse men than you. I've slain Minatours and Orges. I have faced Jadis, herself. You do not scare me."

Cedric breathed slowly. His laughter ceased. This was serious. He could tell that threats were not going to work. Another tactic was required. "Let's talk about this," Cedric said, "What would take to get you to open this door?"

"I will not negotiate with witches!" the boy's voice shouted.

"What's a miantour?" Fred asked, "He said he killed Mintours. So what's a minoutrer?" Fred looked to Gegore with an inquisitive expression.

"Beats me," George said, "I might read a little more than you but I don't know everything. Go ask a real bookworm!"

Fred looked at Percy. "Percy my big brother," he said in a mocking tone, "what's a minatour?"

Percy groaned. He recited as if from a textbook, "A minotaur is an ancient, long extinct magical creature from Greece. They had fur covered bodies similar in shape to humans. They ranged from seven feet to ten feet in height. Their heads were comparable to those of bulls or cows. They have been extinct for two thousand or more years. The last known minotaur was slain by a wizard who traveled with a muggle army, a Roman legion, sometime between thirty-five and twenty-two B.C."

Fred and George stared at Percy with identical over-exaggerated expressions of awe. "That's right," George said, "You would know that, wouldn't you?"

Fred snickered. "It's cause you're Perfect Percy!"

"Mintours," Cedric said, "I've never heard of them. It sounds obscure."

"It is," Percy said, "in wizarding circles. Muggles tell stories about them. I think it fair to say, none of those are reliable. I got the facts about them out of an old dust covered book in the Hogwarts library last winter."

"So," Flint growled, "these mintours thingies, why is that firstie bragging about killing them?"

"You would have to ask him," Percy said, "I have no idea what's in his mind. That boy sounds insane. I don't see much choice but to break down the door."

"Percy! How destructive of you!" Fred exclaimed, "There may be hope for you yet!"

"We have spells that might do the task," George said.

Percy glared at his brothers. "No! Go back to your compartment. Go anywhere you like so long as you go away from here!"

George lifted a brow. "Anywhere?"

Fred's face was a picture of fake innocence. "Let's go get our brooms!" he said.

"Anywhere that's on this train!" Percy shouted, "Inside the train, not on top of it, if you please!" His voice was borderline hysterical.

Fred and George walked off laughing, with George saying, "I think we broke him!"

"Nah," Fred said, "He'll recover. He'll…" Fred's voice trailed off out of hearing range as he got further away.

Flint look back and forth between Cedric and Percy. "You aren't breaking down that door. That would snap my broom. If you snap it, I'll snap you! I'll break you in half!" Flint moved his menacingly. He lifted a fist.

Percy went pale. That bad day he was having was indeed getting worse. Percy was getting a headache. He wished he was some place else, anywhere else.

Cedric rolled his eyes. Wands beat fists anyway. He couldn't believe how serious Percy was taking Flint's threats. Cedric looked at the two boys, first years that to him looked like bullies in the making. "You two are friends with the boy in there?" Cedric asked.

"Were," Crabbe said, "not is."

"It's that stupid four-eyes, fault," Goyle said, "He did something to Draco."

"Four eyes?" Cedric asked.

"Little kid with glasses who beat us up. Real puny looking he was," Goyle said. He pointed at Percy. "You saw him. All he did was look at Draco. When he did Draco flipped out. Those twins stupidly called him Harry Potter. No way that boy is him!"

Cedric thought about this for a second. It was possible, fair unlikely but possible that the with the glasses boy did something to Draco.

Flint gazed helplessly at the door. "My broom!" he wailed.

8

Across the train in a compartment near the end, Harry Potter sat with Neville Longbottom and Ron Weasley. Harry was completely unaware of what was going in the middle of the train.

Neville sat clutching Trevor, his toad. Ron pulled out his wand. Ron's rat Scabbers went on sleeping even as Ron pressed the wand against its back. "My brothers Fred and George gave me this spell," Ron said, "I tried to use yesterday to make Scabbers interesting. It didn't work. He's so boring! I think I'll try again."

Ron cleared his throat. "Sunshine daisies, butter, mellow, turn this stupid, lazy rat yellow!"

Neville looked skeptic. "That's not a real spell, is it? I think, I'm not sure, that real spells, the English ones, are based on Latin. My Gran's never used one that wasn't."

"That figures," Ron muttered. His ears went red.

A trolley came by. A lady with a gentle smile was pushing it. "Is anything you want off the carts dears?"

Neville and Harry both lept to their feet but Ron stayed put, mumbling something about sandwiches. Ron's ears went red again. There were all kinds of candies and sweets that Harry never heard of. There was

Bertie Bott's Every Flavor beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pastries, Caldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a great deal of other strange things that Harry had never seen in his life. Harry had seldom gotten candy. The Dursleys never gave Harry money for sweets. Now he had some pocket money from his parents bank vault, he wanted to spend some of it. He wanted to try some of everything on the cart. He got an armful of sweets. Neville only bought three caldron cakes.

"You must be very hungry," Ron said.

Harry was. He had manipulated his uncle into leaving the house early that morning. He hadn't dared push for breakfast. Harry had left that morning without eating. He wanted to say he was starving. Somehow in the back of his mind Harry knew this wasn't true. He had never gone hungry for too long. The Dursley weren't' that bad. They weren't truly abusive, just mean and neglectful. Harry had never really starved but somehow he felt a tugging in the back of his mind as if there was a memory of having done so. Harry pushed this line of thinking aside. This wasn't the first time he had such an odd thought. He knew it probably wouldn't be the last.

Harry begin to go through the candies. When he noticed that Ron had just sandwiches he offered some of the sweets to Ron. Harry shared his candy with Neville and Ron. There was a lot more than Harry could eat alone.

Harry opened up a Chocolate Frog box. The frog leapt from the package. It went past Neville startling the boy and his toad. Trevor the toad leapt from Neville's hands to go down the corridor. Neville just sat there shaking. "Not again!"

The chocolate frog hit the back of the chair behind Neville. Harry's brows went up in disbelief. "That is not a real frog. What is it?"

"Eww!" Ron made an awful face. "Would you have eaten it if it was?" he asked.

"If it was properly cooked, perhaps." Harry was not squeamish about weird and unusual foods. He never tried anything exotic but he didn't object to the idea of doing so. As long as it was edible and tasted good to him, he didn't care what he ate.

Ron's feeling on this were clearly something else. Ron's face went a shade of green. Neville who had appeared ready to cry, stopped. Neville smiled a little with mild amusement.

A tall red headed youth in black robes with a badge came to the compartment where Harry Potter. It was Percy Wealesy, Ron's brother. Behind Percy was Marcus Flint and Cedric Diggory. "I can't say that I believe it," Percy said, "But I have to ask. Did you do something to Draco Malfoy?"

Crabbe and Goyle moved past Percy into the compartment. "That's him!" Goyle said, "He did it! He did it! He made Draco go all weird. Four-eyes here, made Draco crazy!"

Harry piled up all the candies in his lap off into the empty seat beside him. He stood up. There was a commanding presence to him as he spoke that all of the three older boys could sense. "I have no idea what it that you speak of. If you mean me harm you will regret it. I will not warn you twice."

Neville and Ron looked at Harry in true awe. Goyle and Crabbe were frightnted so much so that they ran out of the compartment without another word. The shock was evident, in varying degrees it could be seen on the faces of Cedric Diggory, Percy Weasley, and Marcus Flint.

Harry stared at Percy, his eyes intense. "What is it you accuse me of doing?" Harry asked. Percy felt nervous. Percy felt ridiculous for feeling that way. It was absolutely ridiculous for a fifteen year old to intimidated by an eleven year old.

Percy didn't know it but Flint and Cedric behind him weren't feeling much different. There was an odd quality to Harry, an uncommon strength of will. There was at times a maturity that went beyond his years. This was one of those times.

"Um," Percy said, "Those two who ran out, they accused you of doing something to Draco Malfoy. He's blocked himself up in his compartment. He won't come out."

"He's using my broom! My broom to block the door!" Flint said.

"Simple diplomacy," Cedric said, "doesn't seem to work."

"Almost anyone can reasoned with if you but know how," Harry said. Harry thought he was good at manipulation. It was one of those unexplained talents he just knew he had. This seemed like a good way to test it. Harry followed Percy, Cedric, and Flint back to the middle of the train to the blocked compartment. Ron and Neville out of curiosity followed Harry.

It was this small crowd that stood before the closed door. Harry knocked on the door

8

In the compartment Edmund recognized not much the voice as the way the voice spoke. Edmund calmed down. He was still delirious as he took down the broom. He opened the door slowly. Three young wizards, Percy, Flint, and Cedric had their wands out in seconds. They weren't taking chances. Their precaution proved unnecessary. Edmund took one look at Harry then collapsed towards the floor. He was soon on his knees. He said something so softly that only three people heard it. "My brother, my king," Draco said. Then his eyes rolled into the back of his head. His eyes were shut before his head hit the floor.

The first of the three that heard Draco was Harry. Harry was bewildered. He was shocked into silence. There was something about this boy's words that seemed vaguely familiar. Harry's confusion was very plain on his face.

The second person was Cedric. He did not understand it. He was more concerned about injures and the over all wellbeing of the boy. Cedric was the first person to touch Draco after the eleven year old passed out. Cedric checked his pulse, then checked to see that he was breathing.

Neville was the third person that heard Draco. His confusion was mistaken for fear and nervousness, feelings which he was also experiencing. Neville was never particularly outgoing. He kept quiet because sometimes he found it was easier not to speak.

"He's okay," Cedric said, "I think he just had some kind of panic attack. He's breathing alright. Pulse is steady. He just knocked himself out with all that panicking." It was difficult but Cedric managed to lift Draco. He carried Draco in his arms. He took the younger boy into the compartment. Cedric placed Draco in a seat in the compartment.

Flint moved to grab his trunk. Said trunk was now directly above Draco's head. Flint was not at all careful. The trunk nearly hit Draco. Cedric barely caught it in time. "Watch it!" Cedric yelled, "You could have hit him!"

Flint snorted. "Like I care. It would have served him right if he got hurt." Flint picked up his broom. "That brat…That firstie, he almost cost me my broom! I'm not staying anywhere near that nut!" Flint stormed off down the train, dragging his trunk with one hand and carrying his broom with the other.

"Um…" Crabbe shrugged. "What he said?" Crabbe and Goyle went into the compartment and grabbed their things. In a matter of seconds they too were moving down the train.

Harry, Neville, and Ron still stood there in the corridor staring. Percy glared at them. "Move along," Percy said, "there's nothing more to see!"

"Bloody hell!" Ron said glaring back at his brother, "You're not the boss of me!"

Percy held up his wand. "As one of the perfects on board this train I am an authority. I am as you put it, a 'boss.' For using such language that our mother would ashamed of, I ought to use a charm I learned that would wash your mouth out with soap!"

Ron's face went red with fury. "You wouldn't!"

Harry grabbed Ron by the arm. He dragged him down the train. A nervous looking Neville followed them.

Percy stepped in the doorway of the nearby compartment. He shook his head. "I can't believe he believed me. That spell would be a complete volition of school rules." Percy walked back to the first train car. Cedric soon returned to his friends/ Though Cedric did keep looking in on Draco every so often.

A few hours later, the sun set. Draco awoke in an half empty train compartment just as the Hogwarts Express was pulling into Hogsmeade. The other boy in the compartment was Cedric who was very much relived to see that Draco seemed okay. As for Draco, he was feeling bewildered. He knew that he was Draco but at the same time he remebered bits and pieces of life of Edmund the Just the second of the co-reigning kings of Narnia, the third of the four siblings who ruled from Cair Paravel.


	3. The Incident With the Squid

Chapter Three: The Incident With the Squid

The Hogwarts Express finished pulling into the station at Hogsmeade. Inside the train students began to push and shove their way down the corridors of the train. In one compartment Draco Malfoy was blinking and looking around confused. Cedric Diggory gazed down and smiled. "It's good to see you're awake. You had people worried."

A frown replaced the smile as Cedric realized that Draco was not acting right. He might have been awake but he was acting if he had been Confunded. The Confundus charm could make a person act bewildered and confused. Draco's confusion however, did not come from said charm.

Draco's mind was filled with memories, two sets of memories to be exact. One set was whole and complete, the life he had lived as Draco Malfoy. The other memories were fragmented, the lifetime of Edmund Pevensie. If the memories had not been so broken, Edmund's personality and worldview would probably have taken over. The Edmund set of memories did have more than fifteen years of life experience over Draco's. As things were, a battle, a great struggle was going on in Draco's mind. It wasn't two minds. It was one; one mind struggling with two deeply held, and in certain ways, completely contradictory belief systems.

Cedric Diggory was utterly unaware of this. All he knew was that Draco sitting in a seat, starring off into blank space. Cedric snapped his fingers. He waved a hand in front of Draco's face. There was no response. The corridor outside the compartment began to go quiet as almost everyone else got off the train.

One of the people first off the train was Harry Potter, followed by Neville Longbottom and Ron Weasley. Harry saw Hagrid waiting a few feet away.  
>"Over here Harry," Hagrid gestured for him to come. A lamp was in Hagrid's other hand. "Firs' Years this way!" Hagrid shouted loudly, "C'mon firs' years! Follow me! Watch your step! Firs' Years this way!"<p>

Back on the train Joe Summers, Cedric's best friend moved through the corridors looking for Cedric. He found the right compartment and looked in. "Cedric come on!"

"I can't just leave him here," Cedric said referring to Draco.

"We're going to be late!" Joe pointed at a watch on his wrist. "If we don't get a move on we'll miss the carriages. I don't want to walk to Hogwarts! You remember what happened to the last guy who did that, two years ago. The feast was almost over by the time he arrived! He was laughed at by half the school! Worse still he got detention and house points taken, and it wasn't even the first day of classes yet!"

Joe leaned against the doorway. "I'm not dealing with that! I'm not getting in trouble on the first night back. I don't want any unnecessary problems. I don't want anything troublesome! "

Cedric stared at Joe with an expression of disapproval. "You don't have to hang around but I'm not leaving him." Cedric grabbed Draco's arms and pulled him up. Draco stood looking as unresponsive as before. Cedric pushed Joe aside. He dragged Draco down the corridor then down onto the platform outside. A still complaining Joe followed him the whole way. Cedric ignored him. The crowd of first years on the platform gathered around the very large and unmistakable figure that was the groundskeeper Hagrid.

"Anymore firs' years?" Hagrid asked in his booming voice. The groundskeeper turned around and began moving away.

Cedric let go of Draco. Draco just stood there. Cedric tried to push him toward the other first years. This didn't work. The other first years followed Hagird down the path to the lake. Draco just stood there.

"Come on!" Joe said, "You're going to miss the carriage!"

"Then I'll miss it!" Cedric said. He let out a long sigh, imagining the ribbing and teasing he would receive for arriving late to the castle. He took Draco's hand again and followed the first years. The path was narrow and dark with trees lining either side of it. It was steep. Cedric had to careful guiding Draco. It was far too easy to trip and stumble.

"Just 'round the bend here," Hagrid said, "Yeh'll see Hogwarts for the firs' time. Just a sec now." Most of the first years made various sounds of awe and delight as the narrow path ended near the edge of Hogwarts Lake. On top of a mountain on the other side was Hogwarts Castle. With its many tower and turrets and windows lit against night, it was a very pretty sight.

This particular view of the castle was not one Cedric had seen often. He might have enjoyed it more if he hadn't been surrounded by a bunch of eleven year olds. As it was, Cedric felt conspicuous and embarrassed. He took a deep breath and pushed forward through the crowd of younger students, dragging Draco with him as he went.

"Hagird! Cedric shouted dragging Draco forward.

Startled, Hagrid stopped moving less than a foot from the lake. "Who's that? Yer not one of the firs' years."  
>"No," Cedric said feeling slightly nervous. He had not spoken more a few words to Hagrid during the three years he had gone to the school. Hagird was, according to long held rumors, a half giant. While Hagrid was not a bad sort, most giants were. Hagrid was not a teacher, so Cedric had never much reason to speak to him until now.<p>

Cedric worked up his courage then pointed at Draco. "I think someone hexed him. It's that or a head injury. He's been acting very strange." Cedric spent the next few minutes telling Hagrid what he knew of the events on the train.

Behind Cedric the first years were whispering and speaking softly. A number of different little conversations occurred. The topics varied greatly.

"I still say Ceddy is cute," Leanne Spinks said to Lavender Brown. The two girls giggled softly.

"Draco is a no good traitor," Vincent Crabbe whispered to Goyle. "If he doesn't get in Syltherin then I say we beat him up."

"He's a Malfoy," Ron said to Harry, "I've heard a lot of bad things about them from my dad. If someone cursed him, I bet he deserved it."

"I h-hea-rd," Neville stuttered, "th-that his gr-gra-grandfather w-was a Grindelwald sympathizer."

Ron snorted. "Probably more that."  
>"Grindelwald?" Harry asked.<p>

"A Dark Wizard," a girl's voice answered. Harry recognized the voice as that of the bushy haired girl he encountered earlier. "He was imprisoned," she continued, "at the end of World War II. I suppose if you want to oversimplify things, you could call him the thirties and forties equivalent of You-Know-Who. I read a chapter on him and his followers in _Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century_."

"Who asked you, Miss Know-it-all?" Ron said sarcastically.

Harry stared ahead a Draco. It was hard to see him clearly. The sky was cloudy covering the stars and moon. Harry wasn't sure what he thought of Draco. He seemed very odd, even a bit crazy. At the same time, Harry didn't think Draco was bad. Annoying and strange maybe, but bad? No. He couldn't explain it though, and he wasn't foolish enough to tell Ron and Neville this. His new friendship with them was too fragile, too new, to trust them much.

Harry had always been a misfit. For his entire life, he had had to be careful what he said and did. If he didn't then people would treat him more strangely than usual. He had never been treated like a normal person. Even when he was careful, he still got unexpected reactions sometimes. Jaws would drop and brows would raise. And even when kids didn't act this way, Dudley and his gang bullied them into giving up on Harry. No matter what Harry did, he had never had friends for long.

What Harry didn't know, dear reader, what Harry couldn't see, was the look in his own eyes. There was at times an authority, an aura about him of someone much older. There was a quality about him, a sheer confidence, like that of a great leader, a general, a king. Kids, not knowing what they were seeing, often tried to avoid him. Even the grownups he had met, ordinary middle-class muggles, were unnerved by him.

Harry had hoped the Wizarding World would be different for him. Standing by the lake, he still hoped this. Hagrid had not treated him oddly. But Harry remembered the reactions of the Weasley twins and the other older boys he had met on the train. He knew too, how wizards reacted to his very name. He was famous, he was respected for something that happened on the night his parents died. It was something he didn't remember doing. It was something he wasn't even sure he did. How could a fifteen-month old baby stop an evil wizard? How could he ever lead any kind of normal life, if everyone in the wizarding world believed this?

The deepest desire of Harry's heart was to fit in. He wanted a place to belong. He wanted friends. He wanted people to care about, people who would care for him in turn and accept for who he was. Part of him feared this would never happen.

The clouds parted shining moonlight on the lake. The light showed the boats more clearly. Seeing them caused a louder chatter among the kids. Hearing this reminded Hagrid of his duties. "I don' think I'm the one you should be telling' this to Cedric," Hagrid said, "Yeh'll need to be talkin' to Dumbledore later." He held up a hand as if to say stop. He looked around and raised his voice. "Right! Firs' years! Everyone to the boats! Four to a boat! Careful now!"

Hagrid put a hand on Draco's shoulder. "I'll take him with me. Keep a eye on him an' all." Hagrid raised his other hand scratching at his head. "I think maybe yer better ride in one of the boats, Cedric."

"No thanks." Cedric wasn't about to ride in a boat. It was awkward enough being late. It would be absolutely mortifying to ride in a boat with the first years. He wasn't about to damage his reputation that much.

"Yeh'll miss the feast if you don'," Hagrid said, "You might get lost. It's my job as staff ter see ter the safety of the students of which yer one." Hagrid lifted Draco as if he weighed nothing. He placed him gently in a boat.

Cedric backed away. "I'll take the long way around to the castle."

"No, you don't," Hagrid said, "You might get lost. You might wander too near the Forbidden Forest. No one is expectin' you at the gates. Anythin' could happen. In you go."

Cedric shook his head. "I really don't think so."  
>"Do yer want me to carry you the way I did Young Malfoy?" Hagrid asked. His voice was soft for him, but still too loud. A good number of first years laughed.<p>

Cedric glared at Hagrid but the damage was already done. Because of Hagrid's words there would be more laughter and rumors at Cedric's expense. He thought about missing the feast. He really didn't want to do that. He thought about the embarrassment of being lifted by the half giant. Even more so, he didn't want that. Reluctantly, he climbed into the boat. Hagrid climbed after him. Cedric found himself and the catatonic Draco squeezed in. There was no space. The boat sunk lower in the water than any of the others.

In another boat, Harry sat with Neville and Ron. The bushy haired girl introduced herself as, "Hermione Granger." To the dismay of both Ron and Harry, she followed them into the boat.

With all the first years in the boats, the boats took off across the lake. Cedric stared down at the water which too close for comfort. Hagrid didn't even seem to notice how low the boat was. It wasn't that Cedric didn't know how to swim. It was what he knew was down there that bothered him. The Hogwarts Lake was famous for exotic magical creatures. There were merfolk and other things swimming down there.

One of those other things raised a tentacle out of the water. It was the giant squid. The tentacle came a little too close to the boat where Cedric was. There were ooohs and ahs and gasps and shouts coming from the other boats. Hagrid looked at the squid. "Awe. Isn' that sweet?"

"Sweet?" Cedric croaked, his mouth dry from fear.

"He's just saying hello," Hagrid said.

Cedric couldn't believe this. He had heard it from other students that Hagrid liked dangerous creatures the way most adored cats and dogs. Until now he hadn't really believed it.

Another tentacle came up from the water. At this moment Cedric discovered something awful. It's very strange but true that you never know how you will react to something until it happens. The bravest of men can turn out to be cowards; and the most cowardly can turn suddenly brave. This sort of reaction isn't consistent either. At the sight of the second tentacle, Cedric panicked. He jumped. He grabbed the person nearest to him, which was Draco. Draco was still non-responsive. Draco was about as limp and resisting as a rag doll. In a tangle of limbs, Cedric and Draco fell overboard.

The abnormally low sitting boat raised right backup the moment the boys' weight was gone from it. "Don't be panickin' now! Don' panic!" Hagrid yelled. It was words that came just a little bit too late.

As the water soaked Draco, he came out of the daze. His mind still wasn't finished with its struggle; but the instinct to preserve his body was currently stronger than anything else. Everything after Draco woke up on the train until now, was like a dream. It was like he had just woke up. He had woken up in the water. He yelled and thrashed, splashing water around him and Cedric. Draco began to sink. He took Cedric down with him.

"Stop!" Hagrid yelled in a commanding tone. All the boats ceased their movement, going still in the water.

Cedric took a deep breath just before his head went under. He held his breath as long he could. He tried to break free from Draco. He fought to get up above the water but he couldn't do it time. Cedric thought he was going to drown. Then suddenly a tentacle wrapped around him and Draco, raising them up above the water. Under the light of the moon he could that Draco wasn't breathing. The squid dropped them into a different boat. There were four girls in this boat; all of them shrieked.

The squid had saved Cedric's life. Draco was a different matter. He had breathed in the water. Cedric didn't have any knowledge of healing spells. Yet he did know muggle first aid. He had spent a lot of time when he was younger hanging around a squib uncle who worked as a paramedic in the muggle world. Cedric knew what he had to do. There was no choice. Cedric laid Draco as flat as he could in the crowded boat. He tilted Draco's head. He put his mouth over Draco's. He breathed into Draco's mouth in two quick breaths.

"Gross!" one of the girls said, "Stop that! Stop kissing him! Draco is mine!" The girl was Pansy Parksen. She was a pureblood. She was a girl who fancied herself in love with Draco. Her face was ugly like a pug's. Her hair was short and dark. She was as ignorant as anyone could be about non-magical things.

Cedric only knew that she was being a nuisance, distracting him, so he ignored her. He pressed his hands up and down on Draco's chest thirty times. Pansy began to hit Cedric's shoulder. "You leave him alone!" she shouted. The boat began rocking.

"Do you want him to die?" Cedric said quickly, "I'm trying to save his life! If you don't stop hitting me, I'll throw you over board!"

The girl stopped. Cedric breathed into Draco's mouth again. Thirty more time he did the compressions. Just as he about do mouth to mouth again, Draco began to move. Cedric turned Draco over on his side. Draco coughed up water.

"What," Pansy asked. "did you do?"

"CPR," Cedric answered, "It's a muggle technique." He was amazed that it even worked.

The girl looked at him in disgust. "Muggle?"

"Yes," Cedric said sounding surprised. He was amazed that it had worked. His father had made fun of him once for trying learn to Muggle First Aid methods. He hadn't expected to ever need it. He hadn't even expected it to work.

Draco sat up coughing a little bit. He then glanced around. "Where am I am?"

"A boat," Cedric said, "That's the school up ahead."

Draco pulled at his robes. "What the- I'm soaked!

Cedric nodded. "We both are. You were drowning. I had to pump the water out of your chest."

"Cedric!" Hagrid shouted, his voice booming across the lake. "Everythin' alright?"

"Yes," Cedric shouted back, "I think so!"

"Alright then." Hagrid commanded the boats, "Forward!" The boats took off again.

"You saved me," Draco said.

Cedric felt a sudden chill at those word. It was a coldness that had nothing to with the dampness of his clothes. "No. It was nothing," he said hoping to stop something before started. "It was kind of my fault you fell in."

"Still you saved me. I'm your debt," Draco said. Draco was talking about a life debt. It was possible that Draco owed Cedric. For several reasons Cedric very much hoped not. Life debts are very serious things. A life debt binds one wizard to another. The Malfoys had always been an extremely dark wizarding family. The Diggorys had always had heavy leanings toward the light but had stayed as neutral as a wizarding family could.

"No. Again it was nothing," Cedric said, "It was entirely my fault. I panicked. I caused us to fall in the lake. There is no life debt. There is no bond between us."

Life debts depend upon a number of factors. One of those is the beliefs and feelings of the person saved during the moment he realizes he is indebted. Magic works always, at least in some small apart, around what one believes. Another factor is the circumstances that led to the person who was saved being endangered in the first place. By admitting fault, Cedric was canceling out the life debt.

The boats were still moving on course for Hogwarts. The boats were soon well over halfway there. The sight of Hogwarts was beautiful to Draco. "The castle," he whispered, "Cair Paravel? No. It's not. It's nothing like that. Still it's lovely."

Draco was himself. He was Draco Malfoy. At the same he had the pieces of Edmund Pevensie's memory strengthening him, making him more than his father's son. He still loved his parents. They were only the parents he could really remember having. They had always been such an important part of his world. At the same time, he knew he could not completely trust them, not yet, maybe not ever. His mind was still somewhat muddled. The two sets of memories were not quite settled in his mind. He needed time to think. There was so little he was sure of. There were so many questions that Draco had. He was only certain of one thing: he could not, he must not go to Slytherin.

"Heads down!" Hagrid yelled. Up ahead was a curtain of ivy sitting against the cliff. Hidden beyond the ivy there was a tunnel. Most of the students ducked along with Hagrid. The only exception was Cedric. It was only Hagrid who was actually tall enough that the ivy hanging over head would hit him. The boats moved smoothly through the dark tunnel until they reached a sort of underground harbor. All of the kids moved out of the boats on onto rocky, pebble covered ground.

Draco's foot steps were awkward and slow. While Draco was far more alert than he had been, he was still not acting in a way that anyone would consider normal. He was muttering a little to himself, thinking aloud without realizing it. "But magic here isn't the same as Narnia…" he said, "different world…bad magic but good also…not like…White Witch."

Cedric heard the fragmented words. He didn't understand what Draco meant. He did not think of this for long. His mind was more concerned with his personal failures. His panicking had almost cost the younger boy his life. His lack of courage had put them both at risk. If only he had remained calm then nothing would have happened. This understanding was like wound to him in both heart and mind. It was muggle healing knowledge that saved Draco; without it Cedric knew Draco would be dead. Without it a death would be on Cedric's hands.

Neither Draco nor Cedric had time to dwell too deeply in serious thoughts. Along with the other students, they followed the light of Hagrid's lamp up a rocky passageway. In short order, they were on the grass in front of Hogwarts Castle.

"Cedric! Young Malfoy! Ye'd better be up front with me," Hagrid shouted summoning the two of them to the front of the crowd. "Now, Everybody here? Good." Hagrid walked up a flight of stone steps with Cedric and the first years trailing directly behind him. Soon, very soon, Hagrid knocked on an enormous oak door, and the door opened.


End file.
